The STRANGE KINGDOM OF GOODABAD.....TWO & THREE

The STRANGE KINGDOM OF GOODABAD 

The Ossy Me Gor Bio Bogus,

 Has a mouth as big as an omnibus!

 He can swallow a whale,

 As quick as you spell S A I L!

 That Ossy Me Gor Bio Bogus.

The Multi-coloured  Malabar                                         Mashyfoo.

She’s fond of – Oh! No! Fish poo!

She snuffles and burps,

Through her nose ‘slurp,slurp!’

The Mashyfoo who gobbles that                                   
                            pooey goo!

Illustration Credits: Saatchi Sadwelkar

THE STRANGE KINGDOM OF GOODABAD...Funny Verse for the Young....ONE

                               

 The Strange Kingdom of Goodabad

In a cupboard my Grandpa had,

Lived  creatures who were good, nuts 'n bad.

The odd fellows init,

Sillier by the minit –

My oddboddy Friends of Goodabad!


Illustration Credits: Saatchi Sadwelkar 

FLUTE IN THE FOREST - The Book

Here's news for all my readers: My book FLUTE IN THE fOREST will be out in December 2010. Do look out for it in the bookshops.
Its a story for YA, 12 upwards, and tells a moving tale of a lonely girl who makes friends with an old man who plays the flute in his forest cottage, and her relationship with him, his daughter, a bad tempered elephant and a teenage boy.
Its the perfect story for a summer or winter vacation or on a trip to a Sanctuary or national Park in India.
Happy reading.
More on this post later.

The monsoons have finally arrived. The farm looks beautiful at this time of year, the stream begins to flow again, after months of dry dusty weather, and the trees are dripping with raindrops. Its a great time of year.
Someday I must write some of our farm and country experiences here.

THE KITEMAKERS DREAM

Fiction for children 10 - 12 plus.

The story revolves around two boys, very similar in looks, but from very different backgrounds. Muziya is the youngest grandson of Khan Bir Khan, a seventyfour year old simple kitemaker of Wartungawadi.
Khan has a secret dream: The day Muziya does well in school, and succeeds in life, he'll give up his booth and spend the rest of his days making and flying his kites from the peak he has dubbed Mera Everest when he himself was a boy of nineteen in 1953, the year Hillary and Tensing conquered the Everest. To him, the peak stands for the achievement of ones goals.
Vir is Mr.Heerats son, the CEO of CyberAce, a large IT company right opposite Khans tiny booth. Vir and Muziya meet on Saturdays to fly Khan's kites and they enjoy each others company. Vir is unfortunately kidnapped by two evil characters, and Heerat and Khan, though they despise each other, are now thrown albeit unwillingly into each others arms. As the Heerats grow fond of Muziya, who turns out helpful and sincere, Vir, locked up in a disused old building, misses the comfort of his own home and strict but loving parents, and his Granny.
A week of rising tensions , phone calls between police and parents, ends with one day left to reach the deadline, ..."or else..."
Muziya runs away from home and locates Virs prison cell, frees him and takes his place, to make up for the guilt of having got Vir into trouble in the first place.
In the nick of time, both boys are rescued and the kidnappers caught red handed.
Finally, Heerat makes amends by offering to pay for Muziya's entire education, and help him to take up a successful career.
Khan takes the Heerats and his own family up to the same hill to fly kites and celebrate the beginning of a better life for his grandson Muziya.
CyberAce celebrates Kite Day every year after that, to encourage all their employees to take time off to " smell the roses".....

COLOUR HORROR - an environment story for children 6 - 10 years

The Ganpati festival was on. All the pandals visited by Shantanu, Vir and Tinku were fabulous!
"What colour! Lights! Music!" the boys chanted appreciatively.

They had worked together to produce a pandal too. Their Ganpati was made of papier mache, painted with natural dyes. Ganpati's lungi was simple cotton. They had dyed it with turmeric! His maroon turban Shantanu had dyed in simple beetroot juice! Only ecofriendly materials had been used to make their decorations......

and tonight the VIPs were going to choose the 1st Prize winner.

Of course, the boys hoped it would be theirs!

The biggest pandal was at the Main Bazaar corner. Decorated in bright colours, mythological characters surrounded the LARGEST Ganpati they had ever seen!

A semi-circular pandal stood at the car park. This one was in all shades of yellow. Very artistic and original.

A third one was in front of the town hall.

"Oof!" Vir said. "I think that one will get the prize!"

The boys noted that all the Ganpati idols had been made of plaster of paris, and painted in acrylic. Their crowns, belts, and jewellery were made of plastic, painted gold.

Shantanu shook his untidy head sadly. "I dont think our pandal will win," he said. "Its too simple.....!"

The time just flew by, and suddenly it was 4 pm, and the first VIPs arrived.

The boys had scrubbed themselves clean till they shone like the statues!

"Arey wah!" grinned Tinku's Dad. "Wish you had a bath like that everyday!"

The Chief Guest was a quiet , soft spoken man who was Minister for Environment. He had a lo-o-ong white beard, sharp twinkling eyes, and wore a kurta pyjama. No gold rings, the boys noted!
And they liked his friendly smile.

Tension, tension......everyone was tense. But not "Mr. Environment!"

He began by telling his listeners that the club groups had all taken so much trouble to make their pandals so beautiful. He told them he was impressed with the bonding it had achieved for the people, especially amongst the kids and different communities. He praised the lights, colour and music.

Then he stood silent and looked long and sharp at everyone waiting with bated breath for his announcement of the 1st Prize.

He turned to each pandal committee in turn, and asked what plans they had for immersion.

Unanimously, they replied: "In the river!"

One small group of voices - Shantanu's club group - was quiet.

"We have a large water tank!" they said suddenly in unison. "We will put Ganpati in that. Colours are harmful in the rivers, other people will be poisoned with these things, too"

"Even fish will die," added Vir, solemnly.

The crowd began to laugh.

But Mr. Environment looked down at the three boys and did not laugh at all. He called them to the dias, and patted them gently on their heads.

"The spirit of Ganpati is truly in these kids," he told his audience. "We can ask for Ganpati's protection and blessings only if we take care of Him and Nature too."

He took a deep breath. "So," he said in an important sounding tone, "First Prize goes to............this one here!" and he pointed at the boys pandal.

Shantanu's gang screeched with delight!

I think I heard Ganpati chuckling too!

Right now the boys are distributing pedhas.....

What an achievement!

* Illustration by Aranya Pathak Broome, 8 yrs.

HOWL OF THE HOOLOCK - an Environmental story for 7 - 10 year olds

Year.....

2021
Place......A remote jungle in northeast India
Time......April dawn

High in the thick canopy of the jungle, Raj and his Uncle Dhalni watched a group of apes munching on wild fruit. The creatures swung from branch to branch, leader on the watch, alert. What a fascinating holiday this was turning out to be! His school buddies would have been envious!

Uncle Dhalni was a wildlife researcher. He was in the northeast on a project to study India's only ape, the Hoolock Gibbon, and the effect of climate change on their habitat and future. Uncle needed someone to help with the documentation process. Raj was fluent with laptop use, so........

There they sat, watching as the family - father, mother and two young ones - fed in the canopy. They had followed the primates up to the hilltop, and listened to them howl. The jungle echoed with their calls!

As they moved, they picked berries off the branches, a spider or two, some leaves...

Chomp....howl...jump, swing....howl....

Raj videotaped quietly. By midday the family had reached the hilltop. Raj and Uncle Dhalni returned to the base for lunch.

As they ate hungrily, Raj listened to Uncle Dhalni describe the life of the Gibbons.

"Gibbons wake up early in the valleys. They live in small family groups of up to six in all. At daybreak, one will howl, then another and so on, till all the Gibbons are 'reporting' to each other, and the days routine begins," Uncle said.

Raj laughed. "What loud howls!" he chuckled.

"By noon," said Uncle, "they quieten and rest till evening. The howls build up again, till dusk. Then they return to their nightly roost in the valley."

"I notice," Raj said, "that they use the same path from branch to branch each day!"

Dhalni noted that Raj was already showing signs of becoming a true researcher, with his patient observance. "Yup!" he said. "Good work! Thats exactly what they do, and that is where climate change is affecting them."

"As the monsoons decrease with each passing year," Uncle said," its becoming way too hot in the northeast. The trees are used to more moisture, along with the insects, birds and plants that also require a more humid, moist atmosphere. Now they're dying out. That means fewer berries. Tree leaves fall earlier than normal too. We are worried about the future of India's only ape!"

Raj nodded. With less to eat, Hoolock Gibbons might become extinct in a decade or two! What a rotten thought! He had to do something!

In June, Raj went to class IX. He and his friends formed a Hoolock Gibbons Aid Fund. They held a huge rally to save India's ape from extinction. A lareg sum was collected. Researchers used the sum to carry on research in the northeast. A wildlife centre there successfully multiplied two Hoolock Gibbon families! Once able to feed themselves, they were let free in the wild again.

Raj and his friends hope they will do well. They sure proved that working together can make wonders happen, didnt they?

* Illustration - Leela Gour Broome